It’s as if you took a bunch of different animation styles, “blended them together, and made them sing show tunes.”  That’s how creator Vivienne Medrano described her new Amazon Prime Video show, Hazbin Hotel, to the crowd at the Amazon panel at New York Comic Con (NYCC 2023) on Saturday. If that type of show is your cup of tea, then you are in for a real treat.

Hazbin Hotel; NYCC 2023
Image: Amazon Prime Video

The show focuses on the main character of Charlie Morningstar. She’s the princess of Hell, always striving to do right for her people. That includes protecting then from an annual cull. Heaven, you see, conducts a yearly extermination to thin out Hell’s numbers. It’s all designed to keep the netherworld and Heaven in balance. That’s why Charlie decided to open the Hazbin Hotel. It’s less of a hotel than it is a half-way house. There the denizens of Hell can check in for rehabilitation and exit, in concept, to Heaven.

Hazbin Hotel: mayhem and musical fun

Medrano first came up with the idea for some of her characters in middle school. She then carried her creative process through high school and college. Finally, in 2019, she produced a pilot episode of Hazbin Hotel to YouTube…. Garnering ninety million (yes, 90,000,000) views. That obviously got Amazon’s attention. Now, Medrana’s dream of producing a full series has come full circle.

Hazbin Hotel
Show creator Vivienne Medrano discusses Hazbin Hotel with TV Guide’s Damian Halbrook at NYCC 2023.
(Image: JJ Goodman for That Hashtag Show)

With humble beginnings on YouTube, Medrano was able to watch her audience and fanbase grow organically, she tells us. Clearly the show’s unique animation style, with its bold colors and sharp lines, resonates. So too does the underlying musical theme of the show. We got to see a bit of the opening number at NYCC 2023…. It did not disappoint. Featuring the likes of Erkia Henningsen (Katie, Mean Girls on Broadway) and Stephanie Beatriz (Mirabelle in Disney’s Encanto), the musical numbers are sure to delight.

Hazbin Hotel arrives to Prime Video beginning with eight episodes in January, 2024. To learn more about it and Prime’s other new or returning shows, click HERE.